


Citadel University: Living Higher Up

by coloredink



Category: The Penumbra Podcast
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff, Multi, second citadel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-02
Updated: 2018-01-02
Packaged: 2019-02-27 10:01:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13245876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coloredink/pseuds/coloredink
Summary: "I'm getting a new roommate," Damien moaned as he flopped facedown onto Rilla's bed."You knew it was too good to last," Rilla said absently, bent over her textbook at her desk.(Spoiler: the new roommate has striking violet eyes.)





	Citadel University: Living Higher Up

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Readerofmuch](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Readerofmuch/gifts).



> For readerofmuch for the Penumbra Holiday Exchange. I hope you like it! :)

"I'm getting a new roommate," Damien moaned as he flopped facedown onto Rilla's bed.

"You knew it was too good to last," Rilla said absently, bent over her textbook at her desk.

Damien rolled onto his back, smushing himself a little against the wall. His previous roommate had dropped out of school two weeks into their first semester, and Damien had had, for all of one week, that rare, glorious, sought-after treasure: a single room.

"What if we don't get along?" Damien said miserably. He hadn't gotten along very well with his previous roommate, who'd been fastidious to the point of pathology and hardly slept. "What if he doesn't like poetry? Or me? What if he does drugs? What if he offers me some? What if--" He looked down at his wrist.

Rilla had leaned out of her chair to touch her fingers to Damien's wrist. Just touch; she wasn't grabbing him or holding him. But she was smiling, and it made Damien smile back. He turned his hand to interlace their fingers.

"I know it's hard," she said, squeezing his hand. "But _try_ not to worry about things that haven't happened yet. He might be really nice."

"Not as nice as you," Damien said, punctuating his statement with a kiss to Rilla's hand. "I love you."

"I know," Rilla said good-naturedly. "And now I'm going to kick you out. Unlike some people, I have tests to study for."

Damien walked on air all the way back to his room. Rilla, Rilla, Rilla! He was blessed, he knew it: first that Rilla had agreed to be his girlfriend in high school, and also that he and Rilla had both been able to attend Citadel University. He was in such high spirits that he almost didn't notice the door to his room was open, and he knew he'd closed it--and locked it--before heading over to Rilla's room on a separate floor. Damien slowed his steps and peered around the doorframe.

There was someone in his room.

Damien's first impression was of scales. Olive green scales, with purple accents around the--was that a frill around his neck? Saint Damien above, his new roommate was a lizard! A lizard with a long, long tail, and not just two sets of limbs but _three_ : he had two pairs of arms. And he appeared to be surveying the state of the bunk beds: the top one, which Damien had been sleeping in, was unmade. Damien swallowed.

The lizard whipped his head around to stare at Damien, and Damien stared back, transfixed. He'd never seen _violet_ eyes before. No human had them. It must be a--a lizard thing.

"I said," the lizard hissed, "you must be Damien."

"I--I am!" Damien squeaked, realizing the lizard must have been repeating himself. "A-and you are?"

"Arum," said the lizard. He extended one of his hands, or were they more properly claws? Damien shook, trying not to quail at the long talons scraping against his skin.

"A-are you new?" Damien asked. "Did you just transfer…?"

"Are you really going to stand outside of your own room and have this conversation?" Arum snapped. "Come in."

Damien stepped into the room and immediately wished he hadn't. Now he had no idea where to stand where he wouldn't be in danger of stepping on Arum's tail; he didn't know what to do with his hands; and he couldn't stop staring at Arum's face, which in addition to those magnetic violet eyes also possessed a certain haughty nobility. But was that rude? Damien didn't know the ways of lizards. More and more monsters had started attending human universities and learning human trades--or at least learning human trades to take back to their own monstrous societies--but this was the first one Damien had met.

Arum gestured to the bunk beds. "Would you mind giving me the top bunk? I prefer to sleep high up."

"Of course," Damien said.

Damien stripped the sheets off his bed and tossed them onto the bottom bunk. Arum reached into the duffel bag at his feet and produced what looked like a blanket made of woven bark. Damien didn't know much about textiles, but it looked like an impressive piece of work: sturdy, yet flexible.

"I'm an exchange student," Arum said. Some of his exhales came with a breathy sort of rattle that made the hairs on Damien's neck stand on end. "From Titan's Bloom University."

"Oh!" Damien said. "That's, er, that's a long way from here."

"Yes." Arum placed the blanket on the top bunk and tucked it in around the edges. Now he drew from his duffel bag a similar blanket that appeared to be made out of leaves stitched together. His claws were so long and curved and sharp, but they didn't snag at all on his blankets. Damien's hand had not a scratch on it, but he could still feel the pressure where they'd been. "I'm here to study human architecture. I'll have twice the client pool if I can design human homes as well."

"Ah...yes," said Damien. "Very smart."

Arum turned to look at Damien, and Damien was once again pinned in place by those eyes. "What about you? What're your studies?"

"I--I don't know," Damien stammered.

"Undecided?" Arum said with an incredulous tilt of his head. He was very tall, goodness, just, so tall. And those eyes, those violet eyes…

"Yes," Damien said faintly. "But I'm thinking about poetry."

"Poetry." Arum's tail flicked from side to side, brushing against Damien's ankle at one point. "What a sweet little honeysuckle you are. I'm partial to poetry, myself."

"Do you?" The fog seemed to lift from Damien a bit. "W-would you like to hear some?"

"Hmm." Was that a _smile?_ Damien couldn't tell. There were an awful lot of teeth. "Yes. Yes, by all means. I would love to hear some poetry."

"Great!" Damien squeaked, and he tripped over Arum's tail on the way to get his notebook.

***

"He's your roommate, we're going to meet sooner or later," said Rilla. "We might as well force the issue. I'll just wait here until he gets back." And she flung herself onto Damien's bed, now the bottom bunk.

Damien didn't look at Rilla in his bed. Rilla and bed together in the same sentence made him nervous. Also, he'd had...a dream in that bed last night. One of _those_ dreams. And _Arum_ had been in that dream. Damien's insides were always knotted up, but now those knots were even worse. He didn't know what that dream said about him, the kind of person he was. He didn't want to be that kind of person! He loved Rilla. He knew that in the same way that he knew the sun rose in the east and that rain was wet.

"Hey," said Rilla. "Are you okay?"

Damien shook his head. Rilla patted the bed next to her. "Come talk to me," she said. Damien shook his head again. " _Damien_ ," she said.

Damien got up and sat on the bed next to her, bending his head to keep from knocking it on the top bunk. And then, since it was easier than remaining upright, he slid over so that his head was in Rilla's lap. "Why do you like me?" Damien wondered.

"Because you're cute," Rilla said without missing a beat. "And kind, and generous, and sweet. You care about standing up for what's right, and you put up with my weird little quirks."

"You don't have any weird little quirks," Damien said. He could feel himself relaxing as Rilla ran her fingers through his hair.

"I eat random plants to find out what they are, I collect bones, and my idea of a good time is visiting illegal dump sites," said Rilla. "Not a lot of guys think that's cute."

"You're not cute," said Damien. "You're amazing."

"See? This is what I mean." Rilla bent over Damien, grinning. Her face was too close, but it made Damien just want to close the gap and kiss her.

Which was when they were interrupted by a hissing rattle, of course. Damien tried to sit up, banging his head against the top bunk in the process.

"Um," said Arum. He was standing in the doorway, looking very much as though he'd rather be somewhere else. His expressions were sometimes difficult to read; he didn't have the same number or flexibility of muscles in his face as a human. "Sorry."

"No, it, it's okay." Damien rubbed his forehead.

"I came back for my books," said Arum.

"Hi!" said Rilla. "I'm Amaryllis, but you can call me Rilla." She stuck out a hand. "Damien tells me you're studying architecture."

"Ye-es," said Arum. "My books are over there; I'll get them and...be out of your way."

"You don't have to leave," Damien said hastily. But Arum didn't reply; he leaned over, snagged the books off his desk, and was gone.

***

"Oh!" Damien exclaimed. "H-hello, Arum, I didn't realize you were back."

Damien was only in his bathrobe, the ends of his hair still dripping. He knew he should have brought his clothes to the bathroom with him! But he'd been halfway down the hall when he realized it and thought the chances were surely slim that Arum would come back to the room in the ten minutes it took Damien to shower. But here Arum was in the room, standing at his desk with a pencil grasped in one claw and staring at Damien.

"Ye-es," Arum said.

"Ahaha," Damien said. "I'll just, um, grab my clothes and go back to the bath--"

"Are you seriously concerned about my sensibilities?" said Arum.

"Um," said Damien. "Yes? I, I wouldn't want to--"

"Most of our people don't wear clothing at all," said Arum. "My clothes are a concession to _your_ sensibilities. In any case," Arum added, turning back to whatever it was he was sketching, "I have no interest in ogling."

 _Now_ Damien was imagining Arum without clothes on. His face flamed, and he scuttled inside with a squeaked "Oh, um, good!" With one last look--Arum was still bent over his desk--he stripped off his bathrobe and threw it on the bed before proceeding to hastily pull on boxers and then jeans.

"The girl who was in this room the other day," Arum said. "Rilla?"

"Y-yes?" Damien paused, t-shirt in his hand.

"She's your...girlfriend?" 

Damien blinked. "Yes?" He wondered where this was going.

"Hmm. She's in the class I just switched into. Local botany?"

"Oh? Yes, she's very interested in the outdoors," Damien said. "The medicinal properties of plants, and all that sort of thing."

"She's very clever," said Arum. He was still bent over his desk, not even looking in Damien's direction. "And funny. One of the few people worth anything in that class."

"...thanks?" Damien said, not knowing what else to say; it wasn't as if he could take credit for Rilla's cleverness or sense of humor.

"You have good taste," Arum said at last.

"Oh," Damien said. He pulled his t-shirt on over his head. "Thank you. I suppose."

***

Damien arrived at the dining hall panting, sweat sticking his hair to the back of his neck. Rilla claimed she didn't care if Damien was late--and Damien was rarely late--but Damien hated the idea of inconveniencing Rilla at all. Rilla already put up with so much for his sake, the least he could do was meet her on time! He jittered in the line, waiting for the cashier to swipe his student ID, scanning the tables for Rilla's long braid.

He spotted her--and a tall, green-scaled companion at her table. Damien went mutely up to them.

Rilla brightened when she saw him. "Damien! Did you run all the way here?"

"Yes," Damien said. "Er, hello Arum."

"Hello, poet," Arum said. "You look quite hot."

Damien flushed, but Rilla didn't seem to notice. "You didn't have to _run_ ," she said. "I told you I don't care if you're late, as long as you text first, and you did."

Damien pulled out a chair and dropped his backpack into it. He went and got in the cafeteria line. Today's meal was meatloaf with mashed potatoes and roasted carrots, the only meal the dining hall did halfway decently. Usually he was ecstatic about it, but today he stared into space and mumbled for one of everything. He went back to the table, where Rilla was leaning toward Arum. Arum was shaping something with his four sets of claws. It looked like something architectural. Rilla looked fascinated.

"Arum's explaining how the monsters in Titan's Bloom, where he's from, live in trees," Rilla explained as Damien sat down with his tray of food. "But not like how you're thinking. The trees themselves are buildings, cities, with walkways and furniture and windows and schools and offices."

"Cool," Damien said, and shoveled food in his mouth to keep from having to say anything else.

***

If Rilla seemed to know more about Arum than Damien himself did, it was because Damien hardly ever saw Arum anymore. Arum always seemed to be leaving just as Damien was arriving, or arriving just as Damien was leaving.

"I think he's avoiding me," Damien said to Rilla.

"You're both very busy," Rilla said. "Besides, isn't this an ideal roommate situation? It's like you live in a single this way."

"I know, but--" Damien pressed his lips together. _But I want Arum to like me_ sounded childish, even to himself. But it was true. He wanted everyone to like him, but especially his roommate, with his lofty ideas about architecture and those violet eyes…

"I should come hang out in your room more," Rilla mused. "Queenie's always holding court in our room."

"Well I certainly wouldn't mind that," Damien said, and the thought gave him such pleasure that it temporarily drove violet eyes from his mind.

But it didn't prepare him to come home one day from archery club practice and find not only Rilla in his room, but Arum as well. Arum was on the top bunk, hanging half over the edge so that he could see Rilla, who was sitting on the floor. Arum was _laughing_. Damien had never heard Arum laugh before. It sounded like the pages of a book being rubbed together.

"Damien!" Rilla said, her face brightening. Arum's expression hardly changed, but his laughter dried up.

"Hello, Rilla," Damien said cautiously, unslinging his gear to deposit it in the closet. "Hello, Damien."

"How was practice?" Arum asked. Was that Damien's imagination, or was Arum being _too_ casual? Surely it was his imagination. Damien was well aware that he had a very active imagination.

"Good," Damien said.

"You should see him practice sometime," Rilla said to Arum. "He's _very_ handsome, and the muscles on his forearm stand out--."

Damien colored. "Rilla!"

"Well, you are and they do," Rilla said.

"Yes, but--" Surely Arum didn't need to know that?

Arum flicked his tongue out like a snake tasting the air. Damien averted his eyes, and then wasn't sure why he'd done that. He forced himself to look back to find that Arum was now looking at him, his violet eyes inscrutable.

"Perhaps I should go?" Arum said. "Give you two some space?"

"No!" Rilla said; at the same time, Damien blurted out, "If you wouldn't mind," followed quickly by "I mean, but you don't have to, don't want to put you out."

Rilla raised her eyebrows at Damien. Arum looked as if he'd be doing the same, if he had eyebrows. Gods, Damien wished Arum would just stop _looking at him_. Why had he ever wished that Arum would stop avoiding him? Every time he and Arum were in the same room he felt hot and panicky.

"I need to go to the library anyway," Arum said. He slithered out of bed, gathered up his backpack, and closed the door behind him. Damien felt his hands uncurl and his breath huff out in a sigh.

"Damien." Rilla had gotten up off the floor and gone to sit on Damien's bed. She patted the mattress next to her. "Come talk to me."

Damien flopped on the bed on his back, knees bent over the side and feet on the floor. "What about?"

"Something about Arum makes you nervous," Rilla said. "I can tell."

Damien covered his face with his hands. "I hardly know it myself--his eyes, Rilla!" He took his hands off his face. "And you! Since when have you and Arum been friends?"

"We're in a class together," said Rilla. "You knew that, didn't you?"

"Yes," Damien's voice was muffled through his hands. "Local botany."

"Honestly, I don't know why he's taking it," said Rilla. "He knows more than the rest of the class put together. _Including_ the instructor. Maybe it's just to boost his GPA." She tapped at Damien's hand until he removed it from his face in order to hold her hand. "He's really quite nice once you get to know him. And he has the most striking eyes, doesn't he?"

Damien felt his face heat. "He does."

***

But what did Rilla and Arum talk about, when they were together? They clearly spoke their own language; had their own jokes, that Arum laughed at. Damien wished he could hear that laugh for himself. It had sent shivers down his spine. But why? Why did he want those shivers? Weren't they shivers of fear? Some primordial part of Damien's brain that quailed before predators...it hadn't been that long ago when monsters and humans had lived in fear of one another.

But Rilla wasn't afraid of Arum. Brave, sweet Rilla...she laughed with Arum, listened to his stories, knew where Arum was from and the kind of place he lived. Rilla was so adventurous; probably she wanted to visit Arum there and see the home she designed. Would she ask Damien to go with her? If she asked, Damien would go. But what if she didn't?

It wasn't that Damien didn't want to go into the woods with Rilla. He cherished all the time he spent with her. But Damien wanted to talk, and Rilla said she liked to be quiet in the woods. Damien tried to be quiet in the woods and just enjoy the feeling of being with Rilla, feeling her hand in his, watching as she delighted in this mushroom or that herb, but it was hard, so hard. He always wanted to speak his heart. He wanted to tell Rilla how beautiful she looked in that moment; he composed poetry in his head and then wanted to try it out loud. So Rilla had asked him not to come to the woods with her anymore. But she went into the woods with Arum. Was it because Arum knew how to be silent? 

***

As the semester began to wind down, Damien saw less of both Rilla and Arum. Well, he had hardly ever seen Arum to begin with, but it was certainly notable that he was seeing less of Rilla. He attributed it to impending finals; he himself spent more time in the library than his own room. But he still made time for archery class, though he'd noticed that many of his classmates were starting to miss. Damien valued how archery quieted his mind, narrowed his focus to the target, the shaft of the arrow, the whisper of the wind.

On the second to last day of finals, Damien went to Rilla's room; they were to drive back home together the next day, and she'd requested Damien's help packing. Her door was slightly ajar. Damien pushed it open the rest of the way, calling, "Rilla?"

The room was empty.

The back of Damien's neck prickled. Rilla would never leave her room unlocked. He wanted to take a step back, but he took a step forward instead, scanning the room. Nothing seemed amiss, but would he know if anything were? The room was tidy--Rilla was very organized, and so was Queenie--but it was wrong that Rilla had left her door open. Wrong, wrong, wrong--

Damien glimpsed a flash of purple on the bottom bunk, Rilla's bunk. He picked it up. It was a shirt, far too large for Rilla, with four arm-holes instead of two. Damien dropped it as if he'd been burned. What was Arum's shirt doing in Rilla's room? What had _Arum_ been doing in Rilla's room?

"Uh," said a voice behind him. Damien spun. There was Queenie, a towel wrapped around her hair and another wrapped around her body. "Can I...help you?"

"Rilla," Damien gasped.

Queenie shrugged. "Probably out in the woods with that lizard guy."

Damien flung himself out of the room without so much as a thank you--inexcusably rude of him, but he would make it up to Queenie later, he told himself. His mind was a whirr, and Rilla--Rilla!--wasn't here to calm it with her soothing voice, her songs, the touch of her hand. It was because Rilla was with Arum. Arum had left his shirt in Rilla's room. Why would Arum take his shirt off in Rilla's room? What had Arum been doing in Rilla's room in the first place? Damien's insides curdled even as he ran for the woods. He opened his mouth, not sure what would come out, but of course there was only one thing that could come out: "Rilla! Rilla!!"

Oh, this was Damien's fault, he'd been distant with Rilla recently, it was because he hadn't been honest with her, told her. He should have told her about the dreams, the violet eyes--

"Rilla! _Rilla!!!_ "

Something dropped out of the tree, almost on top of Damien. He came skidding to a halt and almost fell over, his tongue cleaved to the roof of his mouth. Arum crouched in front of him, scowling--or, well, he always seemed to be scowling. Even now, Damien felt himself transfixed by those eyes.

"You're looking for Rilla?" Arum said, at the same time as Damien screeched, "What have you done with Rilla!"

Arum blinked. "Have I done something with Rilla?" That was definitely uncertainty in his voice.

"You must have!" Damien yelped. "You--your shirt is in her room."

The pause stretched out a little too long. "Ah," said Arum.

Damien's hands curled into fists. "You--you--aarggh!" He leapt at Arum, swinging with all his might, and he was more surprised than anyone else that his fist actually connected with Arum's face.

Arum went sprawling backward, but he twisted almost catlike in the air and managed to land on four claws. His upper set of claws clenched into fists as Arum's face twisted into a snarl, showing rows of needle-sharp teeth.

"You don't know what you're talking about," Arum hissed.

"I know that Rilla's missing," Damien panted. "I know that you and Rilla have been spending a lot of time together. I--"

"I know where your Rilla is," Arum muttered, touching the side of his face where Damien had clocked him. "At least, I think I do," he added.

"Then take me to her!" Damien yelled.

"Come with me." Arum turned away.

Arum moved quite a bit faster than Damien, perhaps owing to his long legs. Damien almost had to trot to keep up. Now that the initial burst of adrenaline had faded, he could feel his heart hammering and the weakness in his limbs from that long sprint. His throat was maybe even a little sore. But he didn't dare let Arum leave his sight, and he didn't want to ask Arum to slow down either. So he kept up his trot, even though his muscles and lungs burned. Despite himself, his legs slowed.

Arum glanced behind him, then glanced again. He slowed his gait. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," Damien said.

Arum snorted and muttered something like, "Delicate honeysuckle." And maybe it was just Damien's imagination, but Arum did seem to go a little slower after that.

But they didn't have that far to go, after all. Arum rounded a rock formation that Damien recognized--he and Rilla called it "The Castle"--and Damien gasped. For there, wedged in the fork of an enormous oak tree, was what seemed to be a very tiny house.

"Rilla!" Damien screamed, and Rilla's head popped out of one of the windows.

Rilla's head retreated, and this time she reappeared at the door. A rope ladder clattered down past her feet, and she began to descend. As she grew closer, Damien could make out what she was saying: "Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit--"

"I'm so sorry," Rilla said as her feet touched ground. "I was supposed to be in my room, wasn't I? I was putting last minute touches on the thing, and I lost track of time. I'm sorry. Well. Surprise!"

Damien stared at Rilla, and then at Arum, and then back at Rilla. "Surprise?"

"This is for you!" Rilla beamed at him. "Well. For all of us."

Damien's gaze tracked back to Arum, who was looking off into the distance somewhere over Damien's head. "For all of us?"

Rilla caught Damien's hand in hers. "Come up and take a look."

Damien gave the rope ladder a few tugs, determined that it was secure, and began to climb. Arum clearly knew about this place; had this been Arum's idea? But then why was Rilla here? What did Rilla mean when she said she'd been "putting last touches" on the place? Was this where Rilla and Arum were going whenever they went into the woods together?

Damien reached the top of the ladder, and the thoughts running in circles around his head ground to a halt.

Beanbag chairs. A camp stove. Blankets. A dart board on one of the walls. Next to the camp stove was a kettle, and a little box with packets of hot cocoa, tea, and instant coffee. A small bookshelf sat against one of the walls. There weren't very many books on it yet, but Damien spied a few of Rilla's books, and one of Arum's books. He knew that that shelf was meant for his books of poetry. Damien looked out one of the windows; it had a view of the trees. A window in the opposite wall showed more trees and, in the distance, the lake.

"This is...for me?" Damien said.

"For us," Rilla said. "Arum's really not happy living in the dorms." And at that moment Arum's face popped in the window, inches from Damien. Damien just barely managed not to yelp, and he backed up a few paces with what he hoped was great dignity, so that Arum could slither in through the window. He hadn't thought that Arum could fit, but he was really quite slim.

"It was my idea," Rilla went on. "And at first I was just going to ask Arum for a design, because he's an architect. But once I told him about the idea he insisted on helping build it."

"You would never have been able to finish the construction by Christmas," Arum said. "And it would have been irresponsible."

"Maybe," Rilla admitted. "And it definitely wouldn't have been this quality."

Arum's frill puffed out a little. "Well?" he demanded, whirling on Damien. "What do you think?"

"It...it's perfect," Damien whispered. He could feel his eyes welling up, and he tried not to blink in the hopes that it would go away.

Rilla came over and hugged him. "Merry Christmas, Damien."

END.


End file.
